Mist-Spraying Electric Fan

ABSTRACT

An electric fan with a mist-spraying device includes: a base, a support mounted on the base; a head assembly mounted on top of the support, the head assembly including a motor, fan blades driven by the motor, and a mantle housing the fan blades; a control device controlling the fan and the mist-spraying; an atomizing device disposed on the base; and a mist-spraying pipe disposed adjacent to the fan blades and connected to the atomizing device via an atomizing passage. The mist-spraying pipe is disposed at a front side of the fan blades. The mist-spraying pipe is formed with a plurality of apertures which are through holes and face the fan blades.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

None.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED-RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

None.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC

None.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention disclosed broadly relates to the field of cooling devicesand more particularly relates to the field of a fan with a mist-sprayingfeature.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Electric fans are widely used for ventilating and cooling in hotenvironments. Some electric fans also provide humidity in dry regions,in addition to ventilating and cooling. They accomplish this using amist-spraying function using a mist-spraying device whose mist-sprayingfunction is achieved by a pump. The pump is contained in a water tankhaving a water inlet and a water outlet and is adapted to supply waterto the mist-spraying device, and the fan device, which are respectivelydisposed on the rear side and front side of the motor. The motor switchand pump switch are provided on the same switch seat. A water inlet pipecoupled to the pump directly passes through a fixed atomizing disc onwhich circumferential atomizing teeth are provided. An outlet of thewater inlet pipe precisely faces a water splash disk which is rotated bythe motor and has a corrugated shape. The water is splashed by thesplash disc and is atomized by the impact between the splashed water andatomizing teeth. In the above mentioned solution, the fan and theatomizing device are respectively provided in the two ends of the motor,and are synchronously driven by the motor. The water mist produced bythe mist-spraying device is dispersed by the fan so as to achieve aneffect of humidity.

However, some problems are inherent in this misting solution. Firstly,the effects of ventilating and cooling are decreased due to the motorsimultaneously driving both the fan and mist-spraying device; otherwisea large power motor is required. Secondly, the produced water mist mustpass through the motor in order to be blown away by the fan device,therefore, the motor is put into contact with water mist all the time,which decreases the lifespan of the motor. Thirdly, the water issplashed by the splash disc so as to form the water mist, thus theeffect of atomizing is not satisfied and is also difficult to control.

Another example is an electric fan with an automatic mist-sprayingdevice. The fan includes an electric motor, a driving device for drivingan atomizing vessel, a mist valve, a motion transmitting device, and anatomizing vessel. The driving device and motion transmitting device arecoupled to a mantle of the fan. The driving device is coupled to one endof a motion transmitting device. A nozzle of the atomizing vessel iscoupled to another end of the motion transmitting device. The atomizingvessel is a metal container which is disposed on the lower part of themotion transmitting device and on the casing of the automaticmist-spraying device.

The contents of the atomizing vessel are liquid and compressed air; thedriving device comprises a driving motor and a small gear fixed on ashaft of the driving motor. The motion transmitting device includes alarge gear of a gear assembly which is fixed on the casing and engageswith the small gear; a toothed block engages with the small gear of thegear assembly; and the block is coupled to the nozzle. In this example,water mist is sprayed to the front side of the fan by the atomizingvessel, and then is blown away by the fan. However, the atomizing vesselcannot continuously provide a water mist, and the effect of the mistspraying is dramatically decreased as long as the pressure is decreasingwithin the vessel. In addition, it is possible to affect the ventilationof the fan if the dimension of the atomizing vessel which is disposed onthe head of the fan is too large.

Therefore, there is a need for a mist-spraying electric fan which canovercome the disadvantages in the relevant art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Briefly, according to an embodiment of the invention an electric fanthat sprays mist includes: a base, a support mounted on the base; and ahead assembly mounted on top of the support. The head assembly includesa motor; fan blades driven by the motor and a mantle housing the fanblades. The fan further includes: a control device controlling the fanand the mist-spraying; an atomizing device disposed in the base; and amist-spraying pipe disposed adjacent to the fan blades and connected tothe atomizing device via an atomizing passage.

The mist-spraying pipe is disposed at a front side of the fan blades.The mist-spraying pipe is formed with a plurality of mist-spraying holeswhich are through holes and face the fan blades. The diameter of eachmist-spraying hole becomes larger gradually from front to rear such thateach mist-spraying hole is formed as a cone-shaped hole. Themist-spraying pipe is positioned between the fan blades and the motorand is formed with a plurality of mist-spraying holes which are open tothe fan blades. Each of the mist-spraying holes has a diameter largerthan those of the other mist-spraying holes whose positions on themist-spraying pipe are below it.

The mist-spraying pipe is formed as an annular structure where theoutside diameter is smaller than the rotating diameter of the fanblades, and the distance between each mist-spraying hole and a rotatingcenter of the fan blades is 0.3-0.7 times as large as the rotatingradius of the fan blades. The mist-delivering blades are provided in thebase and driven by a mist-delivering motor. A water chamber is providedin the base and the atomizing device is disposed in the water chamber. Awater inlet is provided in a top of the water chamber and a water tankis mounted at the water inlet. A hollow thermal insulation layer isprovided inside the tank.

A water groove is provided at the water inlet, and a water inlet pipe isdisposed in the water groove such that the water inlet is formed in thewater inlet pipe, and wherein an outlet of the water tank is providedwith a sealing cover plate, a pushing rod which is pushed to move by thewater inlet pipe so as to drive the sealing cover plate to move, and aspring fitting with the pushing rod.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To describe the foregoing and other exemplary purposes, aspects, andadvantages, we use the following detailed description of an exemplaryembodiment of the invention with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a front view of a mist-spraying fan, according to a firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a right-side view of the mist-spraying fan, according to thefirst embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows a front view of the mist-spraying fan without a mantle,according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a right-side view of the fan of FIG. 3, according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 shows a front view of a water tank, according to an embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 6 shows a sectional view of the water tank, according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a mist-spraying hole, according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 shows a front view of a mist-spraying fan, according to a secondembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a right-side view of the fan of FIG. 8, according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 shows a front view of the fan of FIG. 8, with the mantleremoved, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 shows a right sectional view of the fan of FIG. 10, accordingembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 shows a right sectional view of a mist-spraying fan, accordingto a third embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 13 shows a partial enlarged view of a region A in the fan of FIG.12, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

While the invention as claimed can be modified into alternative forms,specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawingsand will herein be described in detail. It should be understood,however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are notintended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but onthe contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalentsand alternatives falling within the scope of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

We describe a mist-spraying fan which provides humidity in addition toventilating and cooling effects.

Referring now in specific detail to the drawings, and particularly toFIG. 2 through FIG. 6, there is illustrated a first embodiment of theinvention. As shown in FIG. 2, the mist-spraying fan includes: a base 1,a support 2 mounted on the base 1, a head assembly 3 mounted on a top ofthe support, and a control device. The control device is a system ofcircuit control which controls the entire electrical operation of thefan and the mist-spraying device. The head assembly 3 includes a motor31, fan blades 32 driven by the motor, and a mantle 33 housing the fanblades. All of the above mentioned components are well-known structuresin the art.

In addition to the above-mentioned components, the mist-spraying fanaccording to a first embodiment of the present invention includes: anatomizing device 4 disposed in the base 1, a mist-spraying pipe 5disposed adjacent to the fan blades 32 and in this embodiment themist-spraying pipe is disposed on a front side of the fan blades, themist-spraying is connected to the atomizing device via an atomizingpassage 6.

In this embodiment, the atomizing device is an ultrasonic vibratingatomizer which generates a cold water vapor (mist) from water, using aprocess known as “cold boiling.” The main purpose of the atomizingdevice is to generate mist; therefore, the atomizing device can be anyother atomizing device with a different structure, as long as itachieves its purpose. The mist-spraying pipe is disposed on the frontside of the fan blades so that the mist ejected from the mist-sprayingpipe is dispersed by rotation of the fan blades. As can be seen, in thisembodiment no mist passes through the motor so that the mist does notcause corrosion and damage to the motor.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the atomizing passage 6 islocated in a channel inside the support 2 whose top connects to themist-spraying pipe. For simplification, the support 2 may bemanufactured as a hollow structure, and the hollow chamber of thesupport 2 and the mist-spraying pipe are connected so as to form theatomizing passage.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, in the above mentioned embodiment of thepresent invention, a plurality of mist-spraying holes 51 is disposed onthe mist-spraying pipe; the mist-spraying holes are through holes andface to the fan blades. The fan blades produce wind, and while the windpasses through the mist-spraying holes, the mist inside themist-spraying holes is dispersed by the wind, while simultaneouslyforming a vacuum in the upper portion of the mist-spraying pipe so thatthe mist located in the lower part is sucked up and ejected.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, in the above mentioned embodiment of thepresent invention, one of the mist-spraying holes has a diameter largerthan those of the other mist-spraying holes whose positions on themist-spraying pipe are below that of the one mist-spraying hole on themist-spraying pipe, that is, the higher the position of a mist-sprayinghole on the mist-spraying pipe is, the larger the diameter of themist-spraying hole.

The amount of the mist ejected from the holes varies with the change inheight of the holes. The mist-spraying hole at the lowest positionejects the greatest amount of mist, whereas the mist-spraying hole atthe highest position ejects the least amount of mist. Because of this,one of the mist-spraying holes has a diameter larger than those of theother mist-spraying holes whose positions on the mist-spraying pipe arebelow that of the one mist-spraying hole on the mist-spraying pipe, e.g.the diameter of the mist-spraying hole at the highest position on themist-spraying pipe is the largest, and the lower the position of amist-spraying hole on the mist-spraying pipe is, the smaller thediameter of the mist-spraying is, thereby the amount of the mist ejectedin the lowest position can be limited, and the amount of the mistejected in the highest position can be increased, as a result that theejected amount of the mist between top and bottom are basically equal.The effect of atomizing is also improved by the equal ejection of themist to the fan blades 32.

Referring to FIG. 7, in the above mentioned embodiment of the presentinvention, the diameter of each mist-spraying hole becomes largergradually from front to rear such that each mist-spraying hole is formedas a cone-shaped hole, e.g. an end of the mist-spraying hole which isclose to the fan blades is large, and the other end of the mist-sprayinghole from which the mist is ejected is small, with such structure, themist can re-atomize again and the effect of atomizing is improved.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, in the above mentioned embodiment of thepresent invention, the mist-spraying pipe is in the form of an annularstructure and the outside diameter is smaller than the rotating diameterof the fan blades, and the distance between each mist-spraying hole anda rotating center of the fan blades is 0.3-0.7 times as large as therotating radius of the fan blades. For instance, the distance betweenthe mist-spraying hole and a rotation center of the fan blades is 0.5times as large as the rotation radius of the fan blades in thisembodiment. The above-mentioned structure produces more efficientsuction of the mist inside the mist-spraying pipe 5.

Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 4, in the above mentioned embodiment of thepresent invention, a water chamber 11 is disposed inside the base 1, andthe atomizing device 4 is mounted in the water chamber 11. The waterchamber 11 contains water so that the atomizing device 4 convenientlyatomizes water. It is advantageous for using the base 1 as a watercontainer: firstly, the structure of the present invention becomes morecompact by saving space; secondly, because the base 1 contains water,the fan can stand steadier and hardly fall down.

Referring to FIG. 2, FIG. 4, FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, in the above-mentionedembodiment of the present invention, a water inlet 111 is disposed onthe top of the water chamber 11, and a water tank 7 is installed on theplace of the water inlet 11. The tank 7 can contain more water such thatthe period of the continual atomizing is increased. A hollow thermalinsulation layer 75 is provided inside the tank 7, therefore thetemperature of water inside the tank can be ensured. If cold mist isneeded, the hollow thermal insulation layer can maintain the temperatureof cold water contained in the water tank, therefore cold mist can beprovided as needed. The present invention ensures the stability of theinternal water temperature and makes the temperature of the ejected miststeady, thus it is advantageous for adjusting the environmentaltemperature.

Referring to FIG. 2, FIG. 4, FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, in the above-mentionedembodiment of the present invention, a water groove 112 is provided atthe water inlet 111, a water inlet pipe 113 is disposed in the watergroove 112, the water inlet 111 is disposed on the water inlet pipe 113,an outlet of the water tank is provided with a sealing cover plate 72,with a pushing rod 73 which drives the sealing cover plate 72 move andwith a spring 74 which fits with the pushing rod 73 by the water inletpipe so as to drive the sealing cover plate to move, and with a springfitting with the pushing rod.

When the water tank 7 is mounted on the base 1, the water inlet pipe 113can push the pushing rod 73, then the pushing rob 73 pushes the sealingcover plate 72 to move toward to the water tank, thus the outlet ofwater is opened, and the water of the water tank flows into the waterchamber 11 via the water inlet 111 of the water inlet pipe 113. When thewater chamber 11 is full, the water groove 112 stores water until thelevel of water reach a position of the water outlet and then water nolonger flows out from the water tank. However, when the level of waterdrops, the water tank starts providing water again, thus there is alwaysenough water in the water chamber. The existence of the sealing coverplate 72 prevents water from flowing out from the water outlet 71 as thewater tank is being lifted.

Referring to FIG. 8-FIG. 11, in a second embodiment, the presentinvention comprises a base 1, a support 2 mounted on the base 1, a headassembly 3 mounted on a top of the support, and a control device. Thecontrol device is a system of circuit control which controls the entireelectrical operation of the fan. The head assembly 3 includes a motor31, fan blades 32 driven by the motor and a mantle 33. An atomizingdevice 4 is disposed in the base 1, a mist-spraying pipe 5 is disposedbetween the fan blades 32 and the motor 31. The mist-spraying device isconnected to the atomizing device via an atomizing passage 6. In thiscase, the atomizing device is an ultrasonic vibrating atomizer which canproduce mist from water. A main purpose of the atomizing device is togenerate mist, therefore, the atomizing device can be any otheratomizing device and can have a different structure.

The mist-spraying pipe is disposed on the back side of the fan blades,thus the mist generated by the atomizing device is sucked from themist-spraying pipe via atomizing passage 6, due to vacuum formed at therear of the fan blades while the fan blades are rotating. Because themist-spraying pipe 5 is disposed between the fan blades 32 and the motor31, there is no mist passing through the motor so that the mist will notcause any corrosion and damage to the motor.

Referring to FIG. 8-FIG. 11, in the above-mentioned embodiment of thepresent invention, a plurality of mist-spraying holes 51 are disposed onthe mist-spraying pipe, the openings of the mist-spraying holes face tothe fan blades. The mist-spraying holes are adjacent to the fan bladesso that the mist is easily ejected. The other structures of thisembodiment are identical to the structures of the first embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 12 and FIG. 13, in a third embodiment of the presentinvention, mist-delivering blades 61 are provided in the base and drivenby a mist-delivering motor 62. The mist-delivering blades 61 blow themist generated by the atomizing device 4 into the atomizing passage 6,when the suction force of the fan blades 32 is small, the mist can alsobe ejected from the mist-spraying pipe 5. As a result that the ejectionof the mist is not limited by the intensity of wind of the fan blades,e.g. the mist ejection of the electric fan is not affected by the speedof fan blades. The other structures of this embodiment are identicalwith the structure of the above mentioned embodiments.

Although explanatory embodiments have been shown and described, it willbe appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes, alternatives,and modifications can be made in the embodiments without departing fromspirit and principles of the invention. Such changes, alternatives, andmodifications all fall into the scope of the claims and theirequivalents.

Therefore, while there has been described what are presently consideredto be the preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilledin the art that other modifications can be made within the spirit of theinvention. The above descriptions of embodiments are not intended to beexhaustive or limiting in scope. The embodiments, as described, werechosen in order to explain the principles of the invention, show itspractical application, and enable those with ordinary skill in the artto understand how to make and use the invention. It should be understoodthat the invention is not limited to the embodiments described above,but rather should be interpreted within the full meaning and scope ofthe appended claims.

1. An electric fan that sprays a mist, comprising: a base; a supportmounted on the base; a head assembly mounted on top of the support andcomprising a motor, fan blades driven by the motor, and a mantle housingthe fan blades; a control device controlling the fan and themist-spraying; an atomizing device disposed in the base; and amist-spraying pipe disposed adjacent to the fan blades and connected tothe atomizing device via an atomizing passage.
 2. The fan of claim 1,wherein the mist-spraying pipe is disposed at a front side of the fanblades.
 3. The fan of claim 2, wherein the mist-spraying pipe comprisesa plurality of mist-spraying apertures which are through holes and facethe fan blades.
 4. The fan of claim 3, wherein the mist-sprayingapertures are conical, such that an opening at a front end of theaperture is larger than an opening at a rear end of the aperture.
 5. Thefan of claim 4, wherein the aperture opening increases in diameter fromfront to rear.
 6. The fan of claim 1, wherein the mist-spraying pipe isdisposed between the fan blades and the motor.
 7. The fan of claim 6,wherein the mist-spraying pipe comprises a plurality of mist-sprayingholes which are opened to the fan blades.
 8. The fan of claim 7, whereinone of the mist-spraying holes has a diameter larger than those of theother mist-spraying holes whose positions on the mist-spraying pipe arebelow that of the one mist-spraying hole on the mist-spraying pipe. 9.The fan of claim 1, wherein the mist-spraying pipe is an annularstructure and its outside diameter is smaller than a rotating diameterof the fan blades, and the distance between each mist-spraying hole anda rotating center of the fan blades is 0.3-0.7 times as large as arotating radius of the fan blades.
 10. The fan of claim 1, whereinmist-delivering blades are provided in the base and driven by amist-delivering motor.
 11. The fan of claim 1, wherein a water chamberis provided in the base and the atomizing device is disposed in thewater chamber.
 12. The fan of claim 11, wherein a water inlet isprovided in a top of the water chamber and a water tank is mounted atthe water inlet.
 13. The fan of claim 11, wherein a hollow thermalinsulation layer is provided inside the tank.
 14. The fan of claim 11,wherein a water groove is provided at the water inlet, and a water inletpipe is disposed in the water groove such that the water inlet is formedin the water inlet pipe, and wherein an outlet of the water tank isprovided with a sealing cover plate, a pushing rod which is pushed tomove by the water inlet pipe so as to drive the sealing cover plate tomove, and a spring fitting with the pushing rod.